We bought -- well, good stuff, and their uses will become known when I use them, so hold your horses.
Sadly, though -- and very happily, as it turns out -- we decided to have our first restaurant meal of the Eat Local month.
Happily, because we ate really good food that was hugely local. Sadly, because the food was so pretty, and I couldn't take any pictures.
Lunch was at Lark Creek Inn in Larkspur, CA. Chef-owner Bradley Ogden is serious about local food sourcing, AND he's celebrating a tomato festival (pdf) this week.
I will start off by saying that I nibbled on half a slice of bread, the first molecules of wheat to pass my lips in almost two weeks. I believe the sin was offset, though, by the fact that I had a pound and a half of freshly ground whole wheat flour from Full Belly Farm (94 miles away) in the cooler in the car. (The flour's home now, and so is the camera, so look. Do you see the date the wheat was ground? My, that's fresh.)
The rest of my meal was without fault, however, and with the possible exception of salt and seasonings, probably from within the 100-mile radius. Gloria Ferrer champagne from Sonoma. Heirloom tomato soup (tomatoes from Winters, 65 miles away). Tomato salad (Winters again) with handmade mozzarella (the waiter says the milk is from an Oakland dairy) and watercress from Sausalito Springs, which is not in Sausalito (10 miles) but Sonoma County.
Another humbling discovery: I think my own cooking is so satisfying, sometimes I hate to spend money in restaurants for dumb food. Well, today I had a hubris lesson. The food was stellar, far beyond anything I could whip up.
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6 comments:
how pricey is it?
maybe i shoulld give it a try before i move to the presidio?
do you need to reserve?
Oh, hullo! I was going to go find you and tell you about Lark Creek Inn being local and all, but I was temporarily distracted by my newfound fame in the blogosphere, for which I totally blame you (blush).
Just a little pricey. Salad was $10. I usually think of the place as heavily meat-centric, but obviously you can shop around on the menu. Beloved husband and co-cook had pappardelle with chanterelles and local beans.
Here's a sample menu.
I say try it. For lunch today, we just walked in. At noon!
I also tend to prefer my own cooking to restaurant food. But I love to be proven wrong! Sounds like you had a great meal.
Ooh, nice on the wheat. I just scored some co-op organic bread flour from Bellingham today (as close as I'm going to get, I think!) and I'm planning... well, hoping anyway... to do some baking on Sunday.
I totally should be doing this Eat Local thing, living as I do in Portland, Oregon, where it would be pretty darn easy.
I absolutely love the title of your blog. Hee hee.
Those potato "shapes" look extra yummy.
Jamie: Yup. Also, it's worth it once in a while to see what's going on in the trend department.
Janis: You won't believe what I'm planning to make -- hot dog buns! We also scored some very local, grass-fed beef hot dogs yesterday.
Mrs. D: Well, you're still inside Washington, and your weather's not always that cooperative, so good one.
Rozanne: Shame. Portland! How hard could it be? Join in, not too late. (And speaking of late, what were you doing up so late?)
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